WARSAW — Sea Grandon’s Atelier art gallery is proof that you don’t have to be in a major metropolitan area to attract and exhibit top notch artwork.

[caption id="attachment_89202" align="alignright" width="201"] Michael Wolf[/caption]

The latest exhibit at Atelier, which opens Thursday night, features different types of architectural-themed art from New York City resident Michael Wolf.

One year after opening the East Center Street gallery, Grandon has realized she could bring in upscale artwork to a small city in northern Indiana via social media and her connections in New York, Miami and elsewhere.

Wolf discovered Atelier through Instagram where he began commenting on some of the artwork featured on Grandon's Instagram page.

"This is how the world of social media works and I started looking into his work," she said.

[caption id="attachment_85587" align="alignright" width="201"] Sea Grandon[/caption]

That led Grandon to explore his online artwork and eventually led to an offer from her to exhibit his work in Warsaw.

The exhibit, "domicilium: a place to dwell," includes four freestanding sculptures, nine wall-hung relief pieces, and one painting with geometric forms and gilded arches rendered in wood, stone, metal, and gold leaf.

I've always loved architecture and his work is very architectural. I love the simple geometry of it," she said. "Even though the forms are quite simple, it really can evoke a lot of different memories or connections."

She said she receives on average 50 to 100 emails every day from artists. That, along with her networking and her own research means she's never lacking in possible artwork for the gallery.

"It's rare that I'm actually looking for someone specifically to fill a spot in the gallery's programing. It's more like every day, I see this abundance and things just naturally seem to fall into place," she said.

"Yeah, its been really great," she said "I haven't had a single artist decline showing here, so that's a good thing," she said with a laugh.

An open house for Wolf’s collection is from 6-8 pm. Thursday and the exhibit continue until March 22.

Admission at Atelier is free.

The next show in 2024 will arrive in April and feature Mike Kelly — a Warsaw native who Grandon describes as a colorist and a landscape painter.

She said his style of landscape work does not use the traditional representational color combinations, but still evokes emotions tied to places, weather and time of day.

In late May, Detroit-area artist Kat Quay will feature back-lit light boxes hung on walls with 3-D printed botanicals using layers of glass and metals.

Grandon said the entire 2024 season has already been locked into place and she’s already developing a plan for 2025.

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On a related note, Grandon is one of a dozen downtown merchants who will participate in an ice sculpture show Thursday night that's organized by Go Rogue Warsaw. The show will feature ice sculptures outside of downtown stores in Warsaw from 4 to 7 p.m.

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WARSAW — Downtown Warsaw's art gallery, Atelier, is kicking off the new year with an exhibit featuring a sculpture artist.

domicilium: a place to dwell is an exhibition of work by New York City-area artist
Michael Wolf. The show includes four freestanding sculptures, nine wall-hung
relief pieces, and one painting with geometric forms and gilded arches rendered in
wood, stone, metal, and gold leaf.

Wolf creates exquisite architectural forms exploring the meaning of physical space
in our spiritual lives. His work asks, “from sacred altars to humble homes, where
do we take refuge, where do we pause, where do we grow?” The artist’s sculptures
abound with metaphors of the human experience, as alluded to in evocative titles
like “The Roots that Clutch, “Glass Houses,” and “Only the Wind’s Home.” The
desire for shelter—both physically and psychologically — permeates his work.

[caption id="attachment_89202" align="alignright" width="201"] Michael Wolf[/caption]

Decidedly contemporary, Wolf’s art maintains an ongoing dialogue with history. It is rooted in classical architecture and pays homage to the Renaissance, as in the sculptor’s use of draped forms and natural pigments.

“Michael’s sculptures give the sense that they have been kissed ever so slightly by an influence of the American Craft movement,” Attelier director Sea Grandon says. “The works feel like little homes built classically and then swept over by a
slight breeze of Americana.”

In curating Atelier's first solo exhibition of the year, Grandon says she was drawn to Wolf’s ability to create meaning and emotion with repeated materials, geometry, and colors. “Michael’s work evokes complicated architecture in a reduced and refined manner, and the result is astonishingly modern and beautiful yet viscerally familiar,” she says. “I find his art speaks to something universal deep within us that seeks shelter and comfort.”

Grandon says architectural structures play a critical role in modern life, citing
British philosopher and author Alain de Botton’s seminal work, The Architecture of
Happiness.

“Belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that
we are ... different people in different places — and on the conviction that it is
architecture’s task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be,” de Botton
writes.

Grandon says domicilium is perfect for art enthusiasts looking to escape winter
malaise in the Midwest and beyond. “Michael is exploring home and hearth and
the spaces that we as humans find sacred,” she says. “I hope visitors experience
the sculptural works and the gallery space as a warm and inviting respite for the
body and soul.”

domicilium: a place to dwell opens Feb. 8 and runs through March 22.

Atelier's hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays. The address is 104 E. Center St.

Admission is free.

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